90 Countries and Organizations to Attend Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland; Russia Excluded

Switzerland announced that 90 countries and organizations have registered to participate in a summit aimed at paving the way for peace in Ukraine. This summit is set to take place on June 15 and 16 in Switzerland. Russia has not been invited to this summit, which will be held at the luxurious Bürgenstock resort in central Switzerland, but the Swiss government stated on Monday, June 11, that the aim of this gathering is to jointly determine a roadmap for how Russia and Ukraine can participate in the future peace process. Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States, Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany, and Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, are among the confirmed participants in this summit. Switzerland has invited over 160 delegations at the level of heads of state and international organizations to this summit. Switzerland accepted the hosting of this summit in January at the request of Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, and has since been working to garner support from countries that have better relations with Moscow. Ukraine hopes to gain broad international support regarding its conditions for ending the war with Russia. The agenda for this meeting, prepared by Bern, is based on Zelensky's 10-point peace plan and, according to Agence France-Presse, may focus on territorial sovereignty, a just peace in Ukraine, and support for the UN Charter. Russia, which has stated that it no longer recognizes Switzerland as a neutral country, has called this summit a 'waste of time.' Switzerland claims that Russia was not invited to this summit because it has expressed no interest in participating. However, Switzerland emphasizes that Russia must be part of the peace process. Russia's absence has led powerful Moscow allies like China to say that peace negotiations are pointless without the participation of both Russia and Ukraine. This has diminished expectations for any significant progress in the negotiations in Switzerland. Ignazio Cassis, the Swiss Foreign Minister, stated that this summit is set to address widely concerning international issues such as the need for nuclear and food security, freedom of navigation, and humanitarian issues like prisoners of war. Viola Amherd, the President of Switzerland, also described this summit as the 'first step' in a process toward sustainable peace. This gathering comes immediately after the G7 meeting, where the world's wealthy democracies are set to discuss Ukraine from Thursday to Saturday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also attend this meeting. The G7 industrial countries are looking for ways to use frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia in February 2022.